World Renunciation in Indian Religious Traditions
World renunciation is a major theme in Indian civilization, seen by the fact that all major Indic Religions deal with it in one way or another. The ancient Vedic texts laid out a cosmic and social hierarchy – a conception of ‘the world’ – and taught people how to act in accordance with their varna in a way that kept the world in harmony and kept the gods appeased. In the 6th century BCE, world renunciation emerged as a component of religious teachings that would become the heterodox traditions, the two most long-lasting of which are Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism, which coalesced about a millennium later, included concepts of world-renunciation in the Varnashrama Dharma and other texts, but its best known treatise on world-renunciation is the Bhagavad-Gita. Within the umbrella of Hinduism, the Saiva and Vaisnava sectarian traditions provide distinct ideas of world renunciation, through modeling Siva’s asceticism or through acting in devotion to Krsna and Rama.
Reacting against the authoritarian injunctions of the existing Brahmanic order, heterodox teachers first introduced the idea of renouncing the world through the removal of oneself from societal responsibilities. This form of world renunciation is problematic because in order to survive, one needs shelter and food, and these can be attained most efficiently through social institutions such as family and varna, that support the maintenance of a home, production of food, and commerce that distributes vital and leisure goods. In order for some people to remove themselves from the world – by which we mean social obligation – other people are obliged to remain engaged in life-sustaining labor and entangled in these so...
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... associated with physical or ritual removal of oneself from society, or with a personal spiritual journey that allows one to participate in the world while renouncing phal and devoting ones actions to a deity through bhakti yoga, varies between Indic religious traditions. The traditions also differ on whether world-renunciation is open only to a very few full-time devotees, to only high-born males and only at a certain time of life, or to all people at any time. Hindu devotional traditions that emphasize this last option can do so because they focus on spiritual world-renunciation rather than physical and social world-renunciation, as the heterodox traditions emphasize to different extents. The richness of variations on the concept of world-renunciation reveal the complexities it has accrued over several millennia as a central theme of Indian religious thought.
Nirvana for Sale by Rachelle M. Scott is an anthropological investigation into the intersection of wealth and piety in Thailand Theravada Buddhism. Through ethnographic methods, the book seeks to describe this relationship in a historically situated context. Thus, the book is concerned with cultural praxis within the context of religious discourses about wealth and piety.
Yu, Han. “Memorial on Buddhism”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 111-112. Print.
Asperger syndrome belongs to a group of childhood disorders commonly known as pervasive developmental disorders or PDD's. The disorder is recognized as a less severe case of autism. Children who have the disorder have a difficult time in social settings but excel in other areas of inteligence. The disorder is usually a lifelong struggle but has few cases where the patent recovers in adulthood. The disorder is not widely understood by the population but it is becoming a more well known disorder. There is currently no cure for this disorder.
In the 1940’s two doctors in different countries observed children displaying similar behaviors and deficits. One of the doctors was Viennese pediatrician Dr. Hans Asperger and the other was a child psychiatrist named Leo Kanner. Dr. Kanner was the first of the two doctors to report his observations. What he described were behaviors similar to those seen in children with what we call Autistic disorder. The behaviors affected the children’s communication, social interaction and interests. Dr. Asperger later published an article discussing what he dubbed “Autistische Psychpathen im Kindesalter” which translates to “Autistic Psychopathy”. Although some behaviors overlapped, there were differences leading to the belief that these doctors were documenting two different disorders. The two most prevalent were the differences in motor and language abilities (Miller, Ozonoff). Another was Asperger’s belief that his patients were of normal or above average intelligence. It was not until 1994 that Asperger Syndrome was entered into the Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM IV), finally becoming an official diagnosis. At the time, Asperger Syndrome (AS) was labeled as a subcategory of autism along with autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive development disorder. Since then, the community of people with Asperger Syndrome has grown to love and better understand the disorder that they live with every day. Some of them have even affectionately named themselves “Aspies”.
In 1944, Asperger’s disorder was first discovered by Hans Asperger who was a child psychologist and pediatrician who described a group of boys between the ages of 6 and 11 as “little professors” because of their interests and use of language (van Duin, Zinkstok, McAlonan & van Amelsvoort, 2014). In the DSM-IV, Asperger’s disorder (AD) refers to individuals who have an average or high IQ, but have difficulty in social interactions, poor communication skills and restricted interests (Wing, Gould & Gillberg, 2010). Another component in the Asperger’s diagnosis in the DSM-IV was that the individual did not meet the full criteria for an Autism diagnosis (Ghaziuddin, 2010). On May 13, 2013 the DSM-V was published, which was followed by extensive controversy surrounding the removal of the Asperger’s diagnosis. Some individuals diagnosed with AD under the DSM-IV prefer that label to being diagnosed as autistic. Additionally, many individuals with AD and their families feared that services would no longer be available to their children. Proponents of removing AD from the DSM-V asserted that there was no reliable difference between AD and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and that combining these disorders would increase reliability and validity.
Kroeber, Karl. "Tolkien, J. R. R. (1892-1973)." British Writers: Supplement 2. Ed. George Stade. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. 519-536. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
1.) Intro: I decided to focus my Religious Ethnography on a friend whom I recently have become close with. Adhita Sahai is my friend’s name, which she later told me her first name meant “scholar.” I choose to observe and interview Adhita, after she invited me to her home after hearing about my assignment. I was very humbled that she was open to this, because not only was it a great opportunity for this paper, but it also helped me get to know Adhita better. I took a rather general approach to the religious questions that I proposed to the Sahai family because I didn’t want to push to deep, I could tell Hinduism is extremely important to this family. Because this family does not attend a religious site where they worship, I instead listened to how they do this at home as a family instead.
In this term paper I will be comparing and contrasting Buddhism and Hinduism. Comparing both Hinduism belief, sacred text and overall view of how the world SHOULD be. Hinduism and Buddhism are two of the most influential and complex religions around the world. Both religions have similar philosophies and originated in India before 500 B.C. Both are among the top five major religions being practiced in today’s world. Hinduism ranks as the third most popular organized religion and is much older than Buddhism. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, or Lord Buddha, who considered himself a Hindu before being called to his path and attaining enlightenment, and therefore given this fact, it follows that Buddhism share many similarities and some very distinct differences in certain doctrinal sacred texts, ideals, practices, and beliefs of Hinduism.
I will now examine what it means to be religious with a critical enquiry into Buddhism, Hinduism and
Many people across the world are unfamiliar with disorders associated with autism. Some people do not even know what autism actually is. Asperger’s Syndrome is one perplexing disorder, of countless, that needs to be acknowledged. Although it is one of the more well-known disorders, an understanding of Asperger’s is far from common knowledge. There is an abundance of misconceptions and people unaware of what Asperger Syndrome actually is. Being uncertain about the characteristics of a person with Asperger’s allows people to go through life not understanding the disorder itself and people who have it.
This paper was reprinted with permission of Susan Moreno on the O.A.S.I.S. (Online Asperger's Syndrome Information and Support)
Amazingly, one percent of new births will have some type of autism (Autism Society of America, 2010). Asperger’s disorder is one type of Autism, and is at the high end of these disorders. This “disorder, which is also called Asperger's syndrome (AS) or autistic psychopathy, belongs to a group of childhood disorders known as pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) or autistic spectrum disorders”(Exkorn, 2006). A characteristic of this disorder is harsh and strict disruption of a certain type of brain development. The most affected areas of Asperger's disorder is difficulty in social understanding and in behavior or activities that are limited or recurring (Frey, 2003). Students with Asperser’s have different levels of seriousness, which makes it difficult to make the proper diagnosis, but each student will have some trouble with “interpersonal, motor, and language characteristics” (Safran, 2002). There is a significant amount of misinformation about this disorder in the public, not just the general public, but also the medical and educational professional. A significant amount of this misinformation claims children with this disorder will never achieve the basic level of competence necessary to function in school. Current literature shows that this is false. This paper accepts the current position that these students can function in an educational and social environment, and will show that further progress can be made. Specifically, this paper will show that a student with Asperger’s will be better able to function in school with early diagnosis, assistance of educators and the support of the family.
Hinduism is often viewed as a particularly tolerant religion. The lack of a single omniscient God, absence of a prophet, and the open worship of what may look like many Gods may tell a tale of open worship, individuality within religion, and a peaceful, tolerant way of life. Without further examining what Hinduism entails, this may seem like the perfect religion. When the impression of superiority is looked at with a little skepticism, the pretty picture is marred by the deep scratches of discrimination, sexism, and elitism.
Woodbury-Smith, M. R., and Volkmar, F.R. (2009). "Asperger syndrome". Eur Child Adolescent Psychiatry 18 (1): 2–11.
...ld note that all three religions, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, have been the dominant, prevailing religious trends in India for many centuries, and they clearly reflect the culture, history, and spirituality of the country. All three of these religions effectively reflect the views of believers on life, death and honorable conduct. Nonetheless, despite the fact that they are very much related with each other, each has some distinct features distinguishing it from all others, and contributes to the understanding of the religious background in India both at the beginning of the new era of humanity, and in the contemporary period of time.